T-Pain Crowns The New Auto-Tune King: “Not At All Throwing Shots”

Grammy-winning singer T-Pain has reportedly crowned fellow Southern hip-hop artist Future the new version of himself, years after sparking an Auto-Tune trend.

According to reports, T-Pizzle hopped onto his Twitter page to reference Future as the modern-day “New T-Pain.”

“Funny thing about that Bugatti you woke up in, #ItsMine #OhTheIrony hahahaaaa funny how “the new T-Pain” has to use “The old T-Pain’s Bugatti for his Bugatti hook hahaaaaa yea. So. There’s That. Not at all throwing shots at @Acehood that’s my man 100 grand. – T-Pain” T-Pain is clearly referring to Future who sings, “I woke up in a new Bugatti,” on Ace Hood’s, “Bugatti,” track. Do you look at Future as the new T-Pain? (Real Talk NY)

Last month, Future clarified his usage of Auto-Tune compared to Pain back in the late 2000’s.

“When I first used Auto-Tune, I never used it to sing. I wasn’t using it the way T-Pain was. I used it to rap because it makes my voice sound grittier. Now everybody wants to rap in Auto-Tune. Future’s not everybody. The people who are taking my style are like my babies. I’ve got a tribe of kids that want to be like me… But I understand why people want to imitate the things I do. They’re dope. It comes naturally to me. My fans can expect greatness. If I wasn’t me, I would want to be me.” (Complex)

“You can’t stick with one thing forever,” T-Pain explains. “After you figure out how stuff works, you’ve got to start making your own. When everybody talks about (Auto-Tune), they pretty much say T-Pain. So what simpler thing to do? It’s supply and demand. You want the T-Pain sound? I’m gonna give you the T-Pain effect.” The T-Pain Effect, which lists for $99, gives users access to the rapper’s “whole vocal chain” of effects, along with 50 beats and a full complement of recording and distribution software. “They can sonically sound like me,” T-Pain notes, “but nobody’s ever gonna be able to write songs like T-Pain. There’s only one of those.” (Billboard)

Fellow R&B singer Ne-Yo previously bid farewell to Auto-Tune.

“Auto-tune was meant to be a safety net,” Ne-Yo explained in an interview. “It was not supposed to be wings. You’re not supposed to strap it on your back and jump off the building. That’s not what auto-tune was meant to be. If you’re using it for what it’s meant for, cool, fine, and good — not, ‘I can’t sing at all, so let’s turn auto-tune all the way up so I just sound like Willy the Robot.’ That wack! That’s terrible! It takes all the character out of your voice and you become a robot –Take the d*mn training wheels off. That’s how I feel about it.” (Amaru Don TV)